Printable Version: RFC1160.PDF
RFC 1160 The IAB May 1990
operational and technical problem areas and convening of
Working Groups to explore solutions.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is a large open community of
network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with
the Internet and the Internet protocol suite. It is organized around
a set of eight technical areas, each managed by a technical area
director. In addition to the IETF Chairman, the area directors make
up the IESG membership. Each area director has primary
responsibility for one area of Internet engineering activity, and
hence for a subset of the IETF Working Groups. The area directors
have jobs of critical importance and difficulty and are selected not
only for their technical expertise but also for their managerial
skills and judgment. At present, the eight technical areas and
chairs are:
1) Applications - Russ Hobby/UC-Davis
2) Host and User Services - Craig Partridge/BBN
3) Internet Services - Noel Chiappa/Consultant
4) Routing - Robert Hinden/BBN
5) Network Management - David Crocker/DEC
6) OSI Integration - Ross Callon/DEC and
Robert Hagens/UWisc.
7) Operations - Phill Gross/CNRI (Acting)
8) Security - Steve Crocker/TIS
The work of the IETF is performed by subcommittees known as Working
Groups. There are currently more than 40 of these. Working Groups
tend to have a narrow focus and a lifetime bounded by completion of a
specific task, although there are exceptions. The IETF is a major
source of proposed protocol standards, for final approval by the IAB.
The IETF meets quarterly and extensive minutes of the plenary
proceedings as well as reports from each of the working groups are
issued by the IAB Secretariat at the Corporation for National
Research Initiatives.
4. The Internet Research Task Force
To promote research in networking and the development of new
technology, the IAB established the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF).
In the area of network protocols, the distinction between research
and engineering is not always clear, so there will sometimes be
overlap between activities of the IETF and the IRTF. There is, in
fact, considerable overlap in membership between the two groups.
This overlap is regarded as vital for cross-fertilization and
technology transfer. In general, the distinction between research
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